* * *
Sergio wondered for the hundredth time how he had been dragged into this madness. He also wondered how he could actually be having some sort of warped fun. It was rather exciting being a vampire hunter. When he drove the big truck into the ghost town that was the supposed lair of The Summoner, he felt a shiver of anticipation flow over him.
“Yuck,” his grandmother said in a somber tone as she looked around at all the burned-out buildings.
Swinging his head back and forth, he looked over the abandoned town as the truck crept along. He was just thinking it looked rather ominous when his grandmother shouted, “Sergio! Stop!”
He slammed on the brakes and everyone jerked forward. Samantha fell hard into the back of his chair, woke up, and started swearing.
“What, Grandmama?” He looked around frantically, his heart thundering in his ears.
The little old lady threw open the door and tumbled out of the truck. Sergio shifted into PARK, swung his door open, leaped out and ran after her.
“Sergio! Innocente, no! The sun isn't completely up!”
Sergio heard Jeff jumping down behind them, but he continued to run after his amazingly fast grandmother. He had several crosses around his neck. His revolver and a crucifix were tucked into his back pocket. He wondered if it was enough to fend off The Summoner.
His grandmother reached a discarded cowboy hat lying on the road and snatched it up.
“It's Amaliya's!” She held it out triumphantly.
Sergio heaved to a stop and leaned over, his hands resting on his knees. He seriously needed to work out. His lungs hurt from his short run and he gulped down air.
Jeff caught up to them, followed closely by Samantha. He snatched the hat away and looked at it. “Are you sure?”
“Yes! Yes! I'm sure!” Innocente was breathing a little heavily, but she reached out to grab the hat back, her expression feisty and determined.
“It reeks like-like-” Samantha made a face.
Sergio could smell it, too. “Something dead. ”
Innocente drew her hand back and sniffed her fingers. “It's not her. It's something else. She's not dead. ”
Jeff tossed the hat into the nearby bushes that bordered an abandoned motel. Sergio could tell the young man was thinking over the situation quickly. Sergio looked over at the gas station to their right, then slowly toward the motel. He became aware that all four of them were now standing in the middle of the street, the truck idling nearby, staring at the abandoned motel. Probably not their smartest move.
“Shit,” he muttered, and suffered his grandmother's automatic smack on his arm.
“In there,” Jeff decided.
“Yeah,” Samantha agreed.
Innocente drew near Sergio anxiously and he slung his arm down around her trembling shoulders. He cuddled her into his side and tried hard not to show his own fear. He was sure he was not imagining it. Even though the sun was showing over the trees now, the motel seemed abnormally dark and foreboding.
>
“I really, really, really don't want to go in there,” Samantha said after a beat.
“You and me both,” Jeff answered grimly.
“The dead are in there,” Innocente said sadly. “I can hear them in my head. ”
Jeff looked toward her curiously.
“She's a medium,” Sergio answered the unspoken question. “She has always seen ghosts and heard the voices of the dead. ”
Lifting his eyebrows high, Jeff said, “Oh. ”
“That's creepy,” Samantha decided.